Dear Family and Everyone Else, I'm sorry if I didn't explain who President Lyman was. He is the 1st councilor in the Stake Presidency. When I also said that I drove in Jackson, that was because Elder Roudabush didn't have a license to drive. I also drove again today. It is a red corolla. It's pretty nice. We will be driving it for 2 days. After district meeting, I will be driving it back down to Modesto after district meeting on Thursday. Right now, Elder Wardle is preparing to go home next week. He is watching a few videos for a program for retiring missionaries. It talks a lot about lasting conversion, and service after this mission. We should forget ourselves, and love others. This week, we got a new phone, so at the moment, we have 2 phones to take care of until the 3rd of March. Then the phone gets retired permanently. We are switching to a 209 area code instead of 916 from the old Sacramento mission. Other than that, the work has been pretty good this week. We have had a total of 6 lessons with investigators. The first one being Ray. We brought brother Parker, our ward mission leader, with us, and he bore his testimony of church attendance. He was less active for 40 years at age 17. He didn't get active again until 5 years ago. Now he's our Ward Mission Leader. He's still trying to understand how to better magnify his calling. We have been teaching Ray for some time now. I might have mentioned that he has talked to missionaries off and on for the last 14 years. He still is trying to find God through the scriptures, but is not willing to act on faith, hope, and trust in the lord and our Savior yet. Brother Parker was saying we should drop him soon. I think we do need to find the faith to drop him and hope he will prepare himself a little more by reading a lot more of the Book of Mormon. He's just not ready for the Lord yet, and I need to accept that. We will see how this week goes though. Next was Felix. We went over the Plan of Salvation with him, and he made it interesting with his own story of what it will be like at the judgement day. He included the different points we just taught him. I've never been in a lesson like that before, so it was fun. On Wednesday, we went on Splits with Christian Sawyer and Sam Kelly. It was fun. I went out to Lockeford for 2 hours with Christian. We found a new member with a less active, and also found that a former investigator in the country side moved somewhere in Lodi. So, on our end, we were able to get something done. Elder Wardle; however, had nobody answer the door. It was still fun. I decided to save the best pieces of news for last. We got 2 new investigators this week. Geraldine and Cody. They are a married couple of a few years. Both are very into computers and programming. They have 2 boys. One is 2, and the other is 3. They are a nice family in the trailer parks on Cherokee and Vine. Cody is not really religious but does know God and the basics. Geraldine started out as Catholic. She then got baptized into the Jehovah's Witnesses. She got offended, and her extended family was torn apart. She started looking for a religion that is really family oriented. Then, they met the Spanish sisters while they were tracting. We brought Brother Parker with us, and we were able to convince them to try out our message before being quick to shut us out. We mentioned eternal families and gave them a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. Then we set up a time to talk it over, and we then went over it. They loved the message and wanted to hear more. We then explained what the Book of Mormon was in our next visit on Saturday. We looked over the sticker I put into some of the Books of Mormon we hand out. Then they asked about infant baptisms, and we read from Moroni 8. It all made better sense to her now. She also said that she has come to know Father in Heaven more than ever before. We also mentioned the word of wisdom, and she agreed with it because of the Jehovah's Witnesses. She questioned the coffee part, and we told her to be obedient to God's commandments, and then we will know spiritually why. We also said that coffee is addicting anyways. She was convinced because she's been eating healthier because she had her gall bladder removed. So, all in all, they have been really prepared. The best news of all, Gary came to church last minute. It was a huge surprise to us. We were hoping for Cody and Geraldine, and then he pulled through. We will be seeing those 3 tonight. It's all so exciting to see all these people progress in learning the gospel. I forgot to mention that Jenny's sister, Sandra Mendoza, finally got baptized. It was truly a happy day for her and the Spanish sisters. She has investigated for a year and knew the church was true. The only thing that stopped her was that she was living with her boyfriend. She now moved out and dumped him. She also got a new boyfriend recently too. Now, the elders just need to get their dad and step-mom, and their family will be complete--for the most part. This is what happened this week. Next week, Elder Wardle goes back to Houston, Texas on Wednesday and leaves the area Tuesday, and I get a new companion.Sincerely,Elder White

Dear Family and Everyone Else, I'm sorry if I have caused a great offense in all of you, including my friends who read my blog. We actually didn't go hiking up big trees; however, we did go up to President Lyman's Ranch last Monday, and we all had a blast. Elder Wardle went with Elder Bean, Campbell, and the Zone Leaders, along with the Spanish sisters, up the small ridge to the edge of the property. I stayed down in the small plain where the river was with other elders that wanted to play ball. I also helped throw a bunch of rocks into the river to build a rock bridge/dam so we could walk across instead of using the old rickety bridge a little ways down the stream. It was fun chucking all those rocks. So I did find my own little adventure. I also found 2 cool rocks I decided to keep, one being a really shiny white Quartz rock. The member told us that back in 1997, the whole river plain flooded because there was so much rain that year. The plain was about 6 inches deep, and then the river full of mud. Today we drove all the way up to San Andrea's and Murphy's with Christian Sawyer and took a picture of the hills up on another ridge. It was quite beautiful after the winter rains we have been having. It's cooled back down to 70 degrees after our last fierce rainy storm. So I missed out on nothing really. I enjoyed everything. We stopped by the ward buildings up in those towns, and took some pictures, along with the town's themselves. The other adventure we had this week was that we went down to Ripon to see the mission home and President on Tuesday. It's just been crazy being with Elder Wardle. We also had follow up president interviews for the whole Zone on Friday, and he urged all of us to, "Preach by the way." Let no one go from your sight and share the gospel with everyone. We're still working on that one but the work is slowly growing. I went on an exchange again this week up to the Jackson Ward with Elder Roudabush. I totally drove my first pick up truck in my life in the mission. Lot's of hills around here to our east before the mountains. That night, it was super windy, rainy, and dark in the hills with thick forests. This all added up on me by getting two aggressive drivings on Tiwi. It was annoying. The first being a fallen tree with many broken branches in the road and I had to swerve and slam on the breaks. The second was when we were turning into the ward building in Jackson to be with the youth to watch 15 minutes of the recorded face to face with Elder Rasband. It was good for what we were able to watch before we needed to get home. So right now, I'm a yellow driver, and if I am still yellow by next month, I won't be able to drive for a month--not that I'm in a car area anyways. Now I actually hope I never serve in the hilly areas. One note that I will say about the work is that we found a new investigator named Charles. He is 19, Mexican, and really shy. I could see myself in him. We connected pretty well. Elder Wardle talked to him on the street while I was up in Jackson. He expressed the concern that the Bible was translated too many times and has been corrupted. That was a great opportunity to share the Book of Mormon with him. He said he would read it. We also plan to drop off a King James Version of the Bible and reassured him that it was the most correct translation according to modern day revelation. We hope to do a church tour with him and give him some comfort because he is scared to try new things like reading scriptures, or going to new buildings. We will definitely be there for him. Got to go. Have a great week, all.Elder White

Dear family and everyone else, This week has been a true flop in missionary work. We went to a few meetings, and two exchanges this week. Some of the meetings have been about safety. There have been 6 accidents, and 7 total incidents with mission vehicles. Maybe a couple biking wrecks as well. One car did break down. It was costing the church money, and President was really concerned about our safety including biking. If there would have been one more accident, all cars would have been parked for a week. We also randomly got transferred into the other district in our Zone, so I just got 2 extra exchanges for these 6 weeks. 3 weeks down, 3 more to go until the next transfers and I get a new companion/new area. The first exchange was with Elder Spencer. I loved that Elder. He's from Payson, Utah. If I could choose one day, I would want him as a companion a couple months from now. I also want to be companions someday with Elder Shepard. I guess we will see how the rest of my mission will go. On that first exchange, we had 3 lessons with 3 investigators. The first was with 80 year old Leo. We read "The Living Christ" with him. He agreed with every statement and was open to the idea of Joseph Smith being called as the new living prophet in this last age. We then talked to Larry Cruz again and he was somewhat eager to see us again-- interestingly enough. He was going in for dinner because he hadn't eaten at all that day fixing cars at his house as a hobby and as a side job, so we will be seeing him again soon. We dropped off a bible at a referral but wasn't interested in hearing our message. Then we had dinner with the bishop and that was nice. After that, we taught Felix the whole restoration and left him with Joseph Smith being called by God for him to think about. We left that home with the spirit strongly. Lastly, we taught Gary, and read "The Family Proclamation quickly because his son was wild. He's a single dad, so that time, we couldn't bring in the spirit because of him. He can really focus and multi-task. Probably because he is a mom and a dad at the same time. The other exchange was with the Spanish Zone Leaders. I led out the area again just for 2 hours. We also talked about some things that I won't/can't mention. We will also be going back down to Modesto on Tuesday one more time to do some business we have at the mission office. A returned missionary took us down, and we went out to a Chinese buffet. It was good. One other thing I will mention is that we are having president interviews again on Wednesday. This time each missionary will only have 8 minutes, so that will be short, sweet, and interesting.P.S. There is talk going on right now of some missionaries going up to big trees for this or next Preparation day. I don't want to go because it involves hiking, and I don't want to hike as a missionary. It's exhausting.

Dear Family and Everyone Else, I read my mom's letter just before I wrote this letter to you all. It somehow caused me to reflect how much time really flies by. My home ward is getting 2 of it's missionaries back after their few years of service. The Lord smiles upon our diligence in sharing the gospel and asking for the call to serve. It also made me realize how short our probationary state is compared to the whole spectrum of our eternity before and after this life. The title, "Called to Serve", also reminded me of what the city of Lodi is doing this month. If any of you are aware, California has many kinds of gangs in every corner. Lodi decided to do something about it. Nothing is official, but a member in our ward said that Lodi is going to do something about trying to fix the problem of the gangs and shootings in Lodi. One happened last week over by Jenny's place. I can't remember if I shared this or not, but she told us that one day, when it was going to go down, she was going to take the long way home, which she never does. She then learned that she was protected by the spirit. These gangs are a problem, and a lot of the Christian church's are coming together to 'find Christianity in all homes.' I got thinking about "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." As members of the church, the Lord has called us to serve our community and share this wonderful document. I always love it when I see the Family Proclamation by the front door so as soon as you walk inside you see how important the family really is in that home. At church, during Fast and testimony meeting, a member got up and said, "Imagine what it would have been like to hear Elohim say to his son Jehovah, it's time. Then imagine what Jehovah was thinking on what was about to happen. They were Gods of perfect knowledge. He knew he would be rejected and crucified, but he couldn't imagine the immense pain in body because he didn't have one at the time." That really stuck out to me. He was so profound when he said it too. Jesus Christ prepared himself from the foundation of the world and communicated his coming for nearly 4000 years since Adam came to be. That's 4000 years to prepare yourself for a 34 year testing period and the final atonement. That is truly a small moment, but those small moments can be so hard. Naturally, our bodies can endure almost anything and can easily adapt to change. We all can get through hard things if we realize that we truly are sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. The scriptures have stated, "Be still, and know that I am God." To move on, I will talk to you a little bit about my exchange with Elder Sitani. Sadly, I totally forgot to get a picture of it. He is Tongan and has been to a lot of places. He was born in New Zealand and moved between Tonga and New Zealand for many years. His family then moved to Sacramento and now are living in Utah. It's funny that he got called to the Modesto Mission being so close to his former home in Sacramento. He is very social and super eager to share the gospel. By the way, he's been out for 3 weeks tomorrow. Oddly, our exchange lasted for 2 days straight. Elder Wardle went down to Modesto to talk to President Palmer for a new temple recommend. That only lasted for 2 minutes. After that, he and Elder Feltman felt that they should attend some of the meetings that were going on at the mission office. After that, they left for Lodi and when they got to Ripon they felt they needed to turn around, so they did. They also took 40 minutes driving around Modesto trying to find a good place to eat. They then got back to the office and they all gave them odd looks and said, "Why are you back here?" They asked themselves the same question. They asked president and the assistants, and nothing. After waiting for a while, Elder Moore bursts into the mission office doors and said, "I know why here here!" They were needed to pick up a broken down car in Lodi to bring it to Modesto. Then the Spanish sisters car in our Zone got broken into and had the credit card and their GPS stolen while they went out walking in the morning. After all that, they ate dinner in Stockton and got back here at 8:30 and we exchanged back. Talk about a long story on their side. On my side of the story, as soon as Elder Wardle left, we left too for 3 appointments and dinner in between. We kept busy all that night till the next day. We really brought in the spirit to all those houses and had really good lessons. I will just mention one. That was with Gary. He's our new investigator from a year ago with other missionaries. He has been dealing with family struggles and we came by just at the right time. We got him paired up with one of our members, JP Tingey. They both love motorcycles, so they became friends instantly. We taught him the restoration, and then I threw him off by asking, "If you came to know this church is true, would you be baptized?" He paused for like 15 seconds and we waited for the spirit to talk to him. He then said, "Yeah, I feel like I need to change my life anyways." It was a sweet experience with him. I have great hopes for him soon. We will be focusing on the family with his family this week, I believe. The next day was really boring. Nothing happened, except for 3 people we talked to on the street said that we can come by each of their houses sometime this week, so there's a bonus right there. After dinner we picked back up with work trying to see as many people we could in the evening since that's when a lot of people are available, then we exchanged back at 8:30. I was so happy to see Elder Wardle again. He was making me anxious of when he was coming back. Then he told his whole story. Elder Sitani was rather impatient though.This is all that happened this week. It's been crazy.Sincerely,Elder White. P.S. Brittney, I hope you read my blog, because I am here to announce that you're my favorite again. I saw your name on a street in Lodi and that deserves some awesome recognition. Congratulations to you. I love you.

Dear family and everyone else, I was able to help pick oranges off of a less actives tree this week. It was fun. I just needed to clip off a few leafy branches to get to a few. I then wanted to prune other trees too and learn how to do that, but I didn't. A picture is provided of one of the oranges I picked. I have eaten some and they are really good. It's orange season time. Happy February! My year mark has also come and gone, and I decided to make a berry cobbler--a dad famous recipe. Sadly, as usual, the fruit sunk to the bottom. About half of it was eaten after district meeting. The Newcum's serving in the San Andrea's ward also brought a bunch of pizza for us all. It was a really good day of food. On Wednesday, the weather was just absolutely perfect--partly cloudy, with a slight breeze, and 62 degrees throughout the afternoon. I probably haven't felt that extremely perky since my first day or two in the mission field. I just wanted to go out and talk to everyone on the streets about that happy day and share the gospel while I was at it. I took the rest of the cobbler home and ate all the rest of it. It was soo good. On each of these Monday's, we started teaching a former investigator named Bruce Fifel. He talks a lot about politics. I don't like what I hear. There's got to be good things as well that happen in the U.S. I'd be happy to know who the next president will be this next year since this year is presidential elections. I just can't be a part of it is all. He said he has read the Book of Mormon a little and prayed once if Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. He wasn't patient with the spirit in receiving revelation, so he received none and then he was dropped. We are teaching him the principles of how we receive personal revelation. As I teach this kind of principle, the more I learn for myself. It's got to be the hardest thing to achieve in this life to pay attention to the whispering of the spirit. I'm getting there though. We also haven't been in contact with Kaylee since her winter vacation. We went to see her this week. She had the flu, so she said to come again in a couple days. We also asked her if she could start listening to the Book of Mormon on her phone until then. She said she would. We will see how that goes. She did download the Gospel Library App so she can listen to the book. Peter has been busy at work, so we haven't talked to him this week. He also works on Sunday's and is still trying to find a job so he can come to a church on Sunday's. He understands God's commandment about the Sabbath Day, he just needs to find the right job. Donald had a good trip all the way down to Visalia. That's about 2 hours from here. He did read some of the book of Mormon and kept rereading to understand the characters of the first few chapters. He went down to see if he can get a better job as a real estate agent. We are about to pick up a former investigator named Gary Tuggle. He had one lesson with the elders a year ago and mainly talked about the Book of Mormon. That was the end of that though. He is still interested in learning about our church. He also said he was going to try praying at the mosque in our area this week. He also loves motorcycles, so that was interesting to hear from him. He's just trying out some of the religions in Lodi. This would be a great opportunity to share the restoration with him and especially with his family, because we know that the gospel blesses families and we can live together forever in family units. I think that will really stick out to them. We will see this week. Last night, we were able to read two chapters in the Book of Mormon with Felix. Next visit, we will share the restoration with him. He's really busy building this new house in Lodi. He pretty much found a permanent job in the housing industry. One of our Former investigators moved to San Francisco for a better job. Her nursing job had too many hours and not as much of a pay compared to a metal worker. We are waiting to see if the person she is living with would allow the missionaries to come over to teach her. Lastly, we have been working with Jenny some more this week. We brought Brother Hazelhofer, her new home teacher. He is also the 1st councilor of the bishopric. We talked about goals on how we can get her to church and better keeping the Sabbath day holy. We held a panel in 3rd hour at church about what the members themselves can do to make that day more meaningful. There was some really good insight. I love councils. For Ray, we are still building his faith and knowledge about God and of his dealings with mankind. We left him with Alma 36 about his repentance. That's what we are talking about with him on how we can use the atonement and how we repent ourselves. That's it for this week.Elder White